


Listen

by HylianDerp



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Demisexual Character, Gen, No Deadnaming, Pre-Canon, Trans Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28390398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HylianDerp/pseuds/HylianDerp
Summary: There are a few times in his life where Noctis wishes people would actually listen to him.
Relationships: Lunafreya Nox Fleuret & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum
Kudos: 7





	Listen

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been rattling around in my brain for a while, and I just needed to get it out. So it kind of ended up as more of an exposition dump than an actual story?

One of Noctis’s earliest memories was of him fighting for adults to listen to him. His nanny (whose name he had long forgotten) was upset that he liked playing with toy cars with Ignis and hated dress-up clothes.

“Your father will be here soon; don’t you want to show him how good of a princess you are?” Noctis hated hearing that from anyone. He wasn’t a princess, princesses were dainty little girls, and that didn’t describe him at all! If anything, he should be a prince! He tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t listen to what she assumed was just a standard preschooler’s temper tantrum.

King Regis arrived in Noct’s playroom to find his distraught child curled up on the floor, taking the hiccupping breaths that signaled the end of an impressive cry. When probed, the nurse merely claimed that his child was being stubborn and refused to act according to his station. A four-year-old, expected to act regally in his own quarters? Absurd. He needed to look into transferring her to the daycare provided for general Citadel staff. She wasn’t bad at caretaking, but clearly, she didn’t understand how to appropriately treat a child with such expectations already upon him as the promise of a future throne.

* * *

The most exciting day of six-year-old Noctis’s life came soon after the strangest day he could remember. Instead of going to Council meetings or hosting visitors in the throne room, his father spent all day locked in the Crystal chamber. Ignis said that he had heard the adults talking about some sort of prophecy, whatever that meant. All Noct cared was that he had never seen King Regis spend so long in the chamber, especially with guards keeping everybody else out.

Once the king finally emerged, he immediately scooped his groggy son into his arms. “Oh, my dearest child, how I’ve wronged you all these years.” Noctis blinked in confusion. What did his dad do wrong? “All this time, I’ve been calling you my daughter, the princess. Should I have been calling you my son, the prince?” Noctis couldn’t believe his ears. Finally, the adults believed him! He nodded and gave his dad the biggest bear hug he could. He was just happy that he didn’t have to hear his father call him those grating words anymore.

A few days later, after what seemed to Noctis like a million meetings with nice doctors and weird staff, the King made an official statement to all of Insomnia. No longer was Noctis to be called a princess. He was now a prince, and would remain one until he became King himself! He got to watch as all of his stupid, frilly dresses were carried out of his wardrobe. They were soon replaced with an assortment of suits. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, though. They were itchy and choked his neck. How did Ignis wear these all the time?

* * *

Noctis wasn’t sure how to feel about the Marilith attack. It was terrifying at the time, but his dad was there to save him (and look really cool in the process). His back hurt, and his knee was all wobbly, but if he didn’t need to be healed, then he wouldn’t have gotten to meet Luna. There was so much bad and good stuff all mixed together.

Luna was the best part of Tenebrae. She was super smart and pretty and nice. Best of all, she actually treated him as an equal! She kept him company whenever she could, and actually explained things when he asked questions. Everyone in Lucis either looked at him like an idiot if he asked a question they thought was stupid, or told him that he was too young to understand. He spends all his time with Specs; you can’t spend that much time listening to him and not be at least a little bit smart (he’s only ten, but he’s already in eighth grade).

Luna taught him all sorts of neat stuff about the Cosmogony. There was the story of Ifrit and Shiva, the War of the Astrals, the Messengers… The best one, though? The Cosmogony talks about the elusive prophecy, which Luna explains is about him! It says that he is the Chosen King who will save all of Eos! Which is really cool, and also explains why he finally got to be a prince after his dad heard about the prophecy. It looks like the Astrals knew he was a boy, even when some awful nanny didn’t.

* * *

Sometimes Noctis thinks that attending public school was a mistake. He’s constantly being hounded by his female classmates, all hoping to snag a date with the prince. He only has one classmate who doesn’t seem obsessed with his title, but the boy (Argentum, he thinks?) is absurdly shy, and they’ve only managed half of one conversation before being interrupted by Ignis. With the luck he has, Pryna gets hurt right after, so he can’t even write to Luna like he normally would, and Ignis has been exceptionally busy trying to finish high school early and start college classes, so Noctis is dying for someone to chat with. Maybe he can convince his dad to get him a smartphone, so he can make friends online, at least?

* * *

High school ends up being way better than Noctis expected. He’s finally taking testosterone, so he isn’t as babyfaced as his classmates. His dad has let him get an apartment out in town, so he isn’t constantly under the scornful eye of the more conservative council members. He even finally has a friend who isn’t on his father’s payroll! The shy kid from middle school isn’t so shy anymore. The first day of class, he just came up and smacked him on the back as if they’d been friends the whole time, before he had even properly introduced himself! 

He and Prompto have way more in common than Noctis ever thought possible. They have most of the same hobbies, both love animals, both have parents who are usually unavailable… So they spend most of their free time together. This leads to eventual awkwardness. The same gooey feeling Noctis has when he thinks about Luna or reads her letters to him has started to also appear when he hangs out with Prompto. Is this what a crush feels like? 

* * *

Noctis has mixed feelings about the whole arranged-marriage thing. On the one hand, he likes Luna, and the fact that he’s being seen as his gender rather than his reproductive organs is heartening. On the other hand, he has to do this alongside Prompto, who he’s been quietly pining over for a while. Even worse, he’s pretty sure that his feelings for Prompto are reciprocated, and he can’t say that about Luna. He has to travel with a reciprocated crush to take him to a different (possibly unreciprocated) one. This just sucks; he wishes he had more time to detangle his feelings. Maybe he can find a way to stall when they stop in Hammerhead?


End file.
